Etymologically
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resipisco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛ.sɪˈpiːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [re.s̬iˈpis.ko][1]

Forms

resipīscō (present infinitive resipīscere, perfect active resipuī or resipiī or resipīvī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1] Syncopated forms such as ⟨resipisti⟩ and ⟨resipisset⟩ occur in Plautus and Cicero.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- (“again”) + sapiō (“to taste, have sense”) + -scō, an inchoative verb.[4][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of sapiō, which goes back to Proto-Italic *sap-i- and Proto-Indo-European *sh₁p-i- (“to notice”);[5] he compares Old Saxon ansebbian (“to notice”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] whose Miles Gloriosus uses it both of someone coming round from a faint and of a slave who will come to his senses too late.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to regain consciousness:[4][6] Cicero tells of a tribune who came round after being carried off, and Suetonius of Nero lying half-dead until he recovered.[4] From this it came to mean to recover one's reason or, more often, to come to one's senses again, to see reason:[4][7] Terence has a father glad that his son has come to his senses, Cicero writes that he only just came round to the right view on Atticus' advice, and Livy uses it of men who had learned the emptiness of a king's promises.[4][2] Terence also uses it of recovering one's courage.[6][2] Pliny the Elder reports that the magi claimed madmen recovered when sprinkled with a mole's blood,[4] and the jurist Paulus uses it of a madman who regains his sanity.[4]

In Christian Latin it meant to repent, to come back to wisdom,[2][8] and Conte cites Tertullian for coming back to one's senses.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of coming round and of coming to one's senses.[4][9]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a son who sees reason.[4][9]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a tribune coming round.[4][9]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of people disillusioned with a king.[4][9]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of coming back to one's senses.[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To regain consciousness, come to (after fainting).[4][7]
  2. To recover one's reason, become sane again.[4]
  3. To come to one's senses, see reason; to recover one's courage.[4][6]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To repent, have a change of heart.[8][2]

Word family

  • resipīscentia

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de